Urbanization In The Low-And-Middle-Income Countries:

A Condensed Version of the Inter-Academy Partnership’s Policy Statement

by Dr. Locana Gunaratna

Background

The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) based in Trieste (Italy), is the apex body of a global network of science academies that work together to provide independent expert advice. Early in 2020, the IAP invited all their affiliated Academies to submit proposals for preparing policy statements on subjects considered globally important and require urgent scientific attention. The National Academy of Sciences Sri Lanka responded with a proposal drafted by the author, to prepare a policy statement on ‘Urbanization in the LMICs’ (Low and Middle Income Countries).

The subject, being considered critically important for progress in the LMICs, the proposal was accepted. The author was then required to prepare the ‘Zero Draft’ of the policy statement. The IAP thereafter invited nomination of experts in the subject from all affiliated Academies. A careful selection was made from among the nominees based on geography and gender, to form a Statement Working Group (SWG) which the author was required to chair and work electronically with them. Its 18 experts were drawn from 16 countries located on five continents. They were mostly from LMICs in Latin America, Africa and Asia but also included a few subject experts from the US and Europe.

Much keen collaborative work was done electronically over a long two-year period. The intention was to broaden the scope of the Zero Draft ensuring relevance to LMICs in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The finalized Statement was circulated to all affiliated Academies worldwide. It received endorsement by the majority to become the IAP’s Policy on the subject. The policy statement was formally launched on-line from Europe at an international event on October 5, 2022. The author was invited to present and did present a condensed version of the policy statement at that event. The IAP will now proceed to promote the policy among regional and international Development Agencies and also national governments.

Introduction

Urban development in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) has been a subject of serious recent discussion at the international level. In 2015, UN Member States adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among which SDG11 was about the sustainability of cities. In 2016, a ‘New Urban Agenda’ was endorsed by the UN General Assembly. These events bind all countries to promote those recommendations.

Today, urbanization occurs almost exclusively in the LMICs. The task of framing relevant policies for urbanization in the LMICs requires a clear understanding of the process currently being experienced. The study makes it clear that the economic conditions that spurred urbanization in the Western World, mostly during the 19th Century are not the same as those causing urbanization in most LMICs today. Urbanization can bring about positive dividends especially for women and longer lifespans for all, but these dividends are by no means guaranteed. When the process is mismanaged as often happens, it results in serious inequity, social unrest and the rapid growth of informal settlements. Thus, urbanization policies, urban planning and management are deemed to be very necessary. A reliable prediction is that by 2035 all the fastest growing cities worldwide will be in the LMICs.

The Urbanization Process in LMICs

A relevant statistical study concludes that urbanization in the LMICs: induces growth of the largest cities; occurs often without industrialization; is consequent to demographic explosion and poverty-induced rural-urban migration; encourages the growth of informal settlements (i.e.‘slums’); and, occurs more because of ‘rural push’ than ‘urban pull’.

This interminable ‘distress migration’ directed mostly towards major cities results in diminishing the quality of life for all urban residents in those cities. Today, urban population increases happen in overcrowded and under-served informal settlements. These urban residents are part of an ‘informal city’, which generally functions independently from and in parallel with the formal city.

Cities in many LMICs, have some surprisingly common characteristics, which are: unequal access to all infrastructure, services and to decent housing; strong residential segregation; the existence of informal and often illegal systems of land occupation for housing; inadequate land-use management; the inability of most urban local authorities to deal with all these complex issues; unsatisfactory housing units with very poor sanitary facilities; authoritarian political processes and inadequate social participation in planning decisions; large primate cities; and, limited autonomy and resources within urban local authorities and also poor vertical coordination on relevant national urban policies if such exist.

Planning Approaches and Theories

The application of exogenous (Western) development models is discouraged by knowledgeable planners and scholars in almost all LMICs. An important recent study on the current trend of horizontal urban expansion through urbanization, predicts the tripling of urban land cover worldwide within the next three decades and the consequent adverse impact upon biodiversity. It also states that the main biodiversity ‘hotspots’ being affected are in the LMICs. Furthermore, the evidence is that more compact cities are correlated with lower greenhouse gas emissions and higher productivity. Intervention at the national policy level is invariably needed.

A recent observation by the IAP is that: “the potential for science to ameliorate or solve the problems of the world’s multiplying cities has not been realized”. A review of spatial planning literature from the LMICs reveals much scholarship that could influence urban policy intervention. Clearly, science and technology can and should inform decision-making.

Another very important focus is on the role of small and mid-sized towns in the development of LMICs. A well-known British researcher after exhaustive studies concludes that: colonial policies, reinforced by post-colonial economic growth strategies of the 1950s and 1960s, were major causes of the rapid growth of some cities in many LMICs;

urban development was generally prioritized over rural development;

emphasis was on modernizing the metropolitan economy while rural regions were often neglected and left impoverished.

More than 100 reviews of empirical studies across the LMICs and a large number of national programmes for small and mid-sized towns, demonstrate that spatial planning programmes can be crucial in:

attaining social and economic objectives;

increasing and diversifying agricultural production; and,

increasing the influence of citizens living in sub-national and sub-regional political and administrative units.

Policy Concerns

A UN publication focused on Asia (1979) states that: urban-rural inequality is a major problem; and that more attention should be paid to rural development. These inequalities are also found in most LMICs in other continents;

Even where small towns with some infrastructure facilities exist, inadequate urban governance and poor management prevent the much needed extension of those services to their rural hinterlands; and that:

Investments should be made in infrastructure for mid-sized cities to improve mobility by public transport and for accessibility to services.

Vulnerable human habitats due to the adversities of climate change include:

low-lying coastal towns and conurbations exposed to sea level rise;

landslide-prone areas in hilly terrains; and,

low-lying urban areas that are exposed to frequent floods and also heat waves.

In these adversities, the resettlement of vulnerable populations in safer locations may be the best option.

Investments necessary for tackling the challenges in cities in many LMICs requires not only their local governments but also the engagement of their national governments through carefully prepared national urban policies. Even assuming a committed approach to rural development, out-migration from rural areas for non-farm occupations is likely to continue. Rather than have these rural migrants target the larger cities, the more manageable scenario is a gradual process whereby rural migrants move first to the mid-sized towns. Then, movement to large cities may be confined to the more urbanized migrants from mid-sized towns.

Public health should also be of special concern in Urban Planning. The need is to counter the easy spread of epidemics in dense human settlements accentuated by urbanization. If not, low-income urban dwellers will consequently face the twin burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. Also, there should be space for social participation and democratic governance on decisions to be made by urban local authorities.

Finally, Urban Planning under all these initiatives must also be guided by the UN’s New Urban Agenda and also the Sustainable Development Goal #11.

The writer, K.Locana Gunaratna holds

AA Dipl (London), MCP (Harvard), PhD (Colombo);

Fellow & Past President, National Academy of Sciences Sri Lanka;

Past General President. Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science;

Fellow & Past President, Institute of Town Planners Sri Lanka;

Fellow & Past President, Sri Lanka Institute of Architects;

Vice President, Sri Lanka Economic Association.